It was only a matter of time
by Topazicatzbeth
Summary: The team had issues with S.W.A.T Captain Woolf. It was only a matter of time before things turned really bad.
1. Chapter 1

**AN. So here is my new story. A massive thanks to Wenwalke for her help and yet again saving me by thinking of a title. Hope you enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: No copy right infringement intended. Just whumping for fun.**

 **Chapter One**

Steve entered Danny's office and saw his friend typing away on his phone. "Hey Danny." The detective looked up and flashed red. Quickly stashing his phone away, he smiled back at his partner. Steve watched him with a critical eye, then teased, "did I just catch you sexting with Andrea?"

"Sexting? What am I? A hormonal teenager? No, I was not sexting." Danny flushed even redder and shifted in his chair, obviously uncomfortable with the line of questioning.

Steve laughed, "but you were texting Andrea, I can tell by how red you've gone."

Danny ran a hand through his hair, then scowled at his partner who was enjoying his discomfort too much, "yes, it was Andrea, ok? Now did you want something, or did you just come in here to make my life miserable?"

"I came in here to tell you the Governor wants to see me. She wants to go over the budget and discuss policies. The miserable bit was just a bonus. How are things with Andrea?" Steve sat down on Danny's couch and spread his arms along the back of it, making himself comfortable.

Danny knew he was going to have to give his friend more details. He and Andrea had been dating for six weeks now and Steve had been pushing for details, but Danny had kept them to himself so far, not wanting to jinx anything. Still he attempted to stall.

"Don't you have a meeting to get to?"

"I've got time." Steve knew his partner's stall tactics.

"Things are fine with Andrea. We had a nice meal out last night and she was just texting to say thank you."

"You seeing her tonight?"

"No, she's working today, we have plans for the weekend."

"So..., are you two like an official thing now?" Steve enjoyed teasing Danny but he really wanted his friend to be happy, and Andrea always put a smile on his friend's face.

"You mean have I asked her to go steady? Again, I'm not a hormonal teenager Steven. But if you really want to define us, then yes, I guess we are an official thing. Now, shouldn't you be going to that meeting with the governor?"

Steve stood up and smiled. "I'm happy for you buddy." He started to leave, but as he got to the door Danny called after him, "Steve, thanks for the push."

"You're welcome Danno. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone." Steve headed for his meeting with the governor with a smile on his face.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Danny hung up his phone and called out to the others, who immediately joined him in the main office. "Duke just called. HPD has a situation and they are asking for our help."

"What's the situation?" Chin grabbed his bag and was ready to go.

"HPD were canvassing a neighbourhood for a missing little girl when they stumbled on a drug deal. They think they might be the meth dealers we've been looking for."

As they reached the cars they took great delight in that information. The team had been looking for the suppliers of crystal meth, that had already claimed the life of three people. "Anyway, the dealer ran into the house, and he and his mates started firing on HPD. HPD have the house surrounded and have evacuated the neighbours."

"Should we call Steve?" Kono had already pulled out her phone.

"No, he's in a meeting with the governor, you know her no cell phone rule. Come on, let's go and take these dealers down. It will be a nice surprise for him when he gets out of his meeting." Danny slid behind the wheel of his Camaro, enjoying the fact that he got to drive for once.

As they arrived at the scene Danny inwardly groaned when he saw the S.W.A.T team pull up. Of course, HPD would have called the highly trained team in for support, but Five-0 didn't have a good history with their leader, Captain Woolf. The two teams had butted heads several times, but the latest had been the worst. A hostage situation at Queens medical involving Dr. Pearce had left Danny frantic with worry, and he had strongly disagreed with Woolf's plan of action. Steve had had to stop him from punching the man, something he resented a little as both Steve and

Lou had got to wipe the smug smile off the captain's face with a solid punch each, after Danny had been shot saving his now girlfriend.

The team spotted Duke and headed over for a briefing. Woolf had obviously had the same idea. As his team held back, he marched over to join them. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Duke called us, we think these guys might be involved in our latest case." Danny responded.

"Well you don't need to stay. We can take things from here."

"How about we let Duke fill us in first." Kono suggested.

"We're sitting them out at the moment, the house is surrounded and we've cleared the area. There are four men, two at the front, two at the back." Duke explained.

"What about the little girl that's missing?" Danny hadn't forgotten the original reason HPD were in the area.

"She's still missing, but we have moved the search to the other side of the neighbourhood. Like I said, we've cleared the area here." The team were relieved to hear the little girl was nowhere near the scene.

"Ok, let's hope they find her soon." Danny couldn't help but feel for her poor parents.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's hope they find the snot nosed brat, now can we get back to business here. We'll take it from here. My guys are geared up and ready to storm."

"Storm? You really think that's the best plan? They have the tactical advantage. They have good cover, and in case you haven't noticed, there is no cover around the house." Danny was right. The house sat in the center of the plot, the open plan yard had only a few bushes to the side of the house. "They only have so much ammo, we should keep sitting them out, and wait.

"Gee, thanks for your input De-tec-tive. Excuse me if I don't have much faith in your team's plans. How is the shoulder by the way?"

"Good as new." Danny grit his teeth and could see the rest of the team tense. "My point still stands. You go storming in there, and they will pick you off, one by one."

"Well, as your great leader doesn't seem to be here, then I have seniority, and I say we go with my plan."

"Five-0 have seniority." Danny could feel his anger start to rise, and clenched his fists. He had to try and keep his cool, the governor wasn't happy about the tension between the teams, and another altercation would not go down well.

"Well the last time I checked, you." Woolf pointed in Danny's face. "You were still a De-tec-tive. Hell, the rest of your team practically out rank you. If they are dumb enough to take orders from you, then so be it, but I certainly aren't. McGarrett's not here. I'm in charge, I have a way to get inside and take them down." Woolf marched away.

All three other members of the team were instantly outraged. Five-0 worked outside of HPD so there was no chance of promotion, yet they all respected that Danny was the second in command of the team. Kono started to storm after Woolf, every intention of setting him straight, but Danny stopped her.

"Let it go guys. Gear up, I have a feeling we might be needed." Danny was honoured that his friends wanted to defend him, but he didn't want to cause more trouble. S.W.A.T were highly trained for just this occasion, and they knew what they were getting themselves into. If Woolf wanted to take charge, and mess up the situation, then let him. He just hoped no one was hurt in the process.

Everyone geared up, and the team took up position behind a squad car to the side of the house. Woolf had his team ready to move.

As Danny watched them move a little closer he saw a small movement out of the corner of his eye. When a spree of gunfire erupted from one of the windows in the direction of the S.W.A.T team, there was a small shriek, and the bush moved again. This time Danny saw it clearly. To his horror he realised that the missing little girl had been hiding in the bush all the time.

"Woolf, fall back." Danny yelled across the yard.

The S.W.A.T captain glanced in Danny direction to acknowledge he heard him, but then pushed his team forward.

"Woolf stop, the girl." Danny inched forward, holstering his weapon.

"OMG." Kono gasped as she too saw the little girl. The poor thing was terrified, but now she saw somebody was near her she had decided to break her cover, and was getting to her feet.

Woolf once again ignored Danny's yell, and the team advanced a few more feet using their riot shield as protection. More gunfire exploded from the house, and Danny didn't even take a second to think. He just sprang into action, running as fast as he could towards the girl, hoping that S.W.A.T would draw the attention of the guys inside the house.

The team could only watch as Danny sprinted towards the little girl. Woolf refused to back off, and instead threw a flash bang grenade through one of the windows. S.W.A.T started to run to the house, but they were suddenly thrown back. Instead of the usual flash and smoke to stun their target, the whole house exploded. The roof lifted clean off the house, and all the windows blew out sending shards of glass in every direction. Danny made it to the toddler just in time for the house to explode, he protectively curled himself around her, and threw them both to the ground, as glass and debris rained down on them.

 **TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**An. Thank you for all the reviews. Let's see how everyone faired in the explosion.**

 **Chapter Two**

"What the hell?" Lou pulled himself up from behind the squad car where the team had taken cover when the house exploded, and brushed himself down. A quick scan showed the S.W.A.T team helping each other up and limping away from the burning wreckage. Thankfully they hadn't been close enough to the house for the blast to kill them.

"I guess we found our meth lab." Chin helped Kono to her feet as Duke came jogging over.

"I've got fire and ambulance crews on the way." Looking around he asked, "Is Danny ok?"

"Oh no, the little girl." Kono set off at a sprint, but skidded to a halt when she saw Danny walking towards them. He had the little girl safely in his arms and she was snuggled in to his neck, her body rocked with tiny sobs as Danny ran a comforting hand up and down her back, and whispered into her ear.

"Danny, are you ok?" Kono's eyes roamed over her friend. He had a few cuts on his arms and looked pale, and slightly out of breath from his mad dash, but otherwise he looked OK.

"I'm fine, Duke can you take care of this little lady for me. I think she's ok, just scared, but she needs checking out."

"Of course, you sure you're ok?" Duke carefully took the toddler from Danny.

"Yeah I'm fine, what about everyone else?"

"S.W.A.T. took the brunt of it, but they are all up and moving. Dam it, you were right, what the hell was he thinking throwing a flash bang in there?" The experienced Sargent was outraged.

"He, what?" Danny's eyes stormed, he had no idea why the house exploded, he had been so intent on reaching the toddler he had missed the grenade being launched into the house. "I'm gonna kill him."

The team raced after Danny as he stormed across the yard making a bee line for Woolf, who was checking on his team which had regrouped at the perimeter of the property. Several men were sporting cuts just like Danny, while one looked like he was nursing a broken arm.

Woolf himself looked like he had miraculously survived unhurt. Hearing Danny yell his name he turned just in time to see Danny's fist come flying towards his face. Taken by surprise he stumbled backwards, blood spraying from his nose. "What the hell Williams?"

"What the hell were you thinking throwing a flash bang into a meth lab?" Danny growled, the team had caught him up now and were keen to hear the answer.

"How the hell was I supposed to know it was a meth lab?" Woolf spat blood onto the grass.

"You make sure you're fully briefed, you moron." Danny was past angry, this man's bull in a china shop attitude had nearly cost his team their lives, not to mention HPD and an innocent little girl. "I told you to fall back. The missing girl was in a bush. You could have killed her."

"And I told you, I don't take orders from a junked-up detective, who is too big for his boots, and thinks he can give orders to a Captain. The little brat should have known better than to get herself caught up in a shootout."

Once again Woolf missed the fist, headed his way. Danny made contact with Woolf's nose with a sickening crack. Woolf fell to the ground and took a few seconds to recover his senses as blood flowed freely from each nostril. Pushing himself up off the ground he launched himself at Danny who was ready for the attack, and dodged easily out of the way sending Woolf stumbling forward. As he spun around to attempt another charge, two members of his team interceded and pulled him away. Danny had gone in for another punch when Chin grabbed hold of his wrist, and Lou stepped in between the two men.

"Enough, Danny. I think you made your point." Lou waved off the HPD officers that were about to intercede. "Get him out of here, and don't expect him to be your Captain for much longer. This little stunt was reckless."

The two men forced Woolf away towards their van, blood was still dripping from his nose.

"Easy, Danny, calm down." Chin was alarmed by how much Danny was sweating from the ordeal. Pale and trembling, the detective was obviously still enraged.

"Danny come on, let's go check on the girl." Kono put her arm around Danny's waist and attempted to steer him back towards their cars, but Danny pulled away.

"No, give me a sec, I need to cool off."

"Ok, fine." Kono held her hands up in submission, it probably was a good idea that Danny calmed himself.

Danny focused on Kono's hands, seeing one stained red. "Kono, you're hurt. That bastard hurt people and he doesn't give a shit."

Kono looked confused then looked down at her left hand, stained red with blood. She looked back up at Danny. "Danny, that's not my blood. I...I think it's yours."

Chin and Lou looked at each other, then started checking the blonde over. Now the perfuse sweating, paleness, and tremble made sense. Working their way from head to toe they stopped just below Danny's tac vest. The dark blue shirt slick with blood.

"Danny, let's get this vest off, shall we?" Chin undid the Velcro and carefully removed the protective vest. Lou gasped, as they all saw a large, shard of glass protruding from Danny's back.

"What, what's wrong? My backs stinging, have I been cut?"

"You could say that man, you have a piece of glass in your back that's bleeding a lot."

"I guess that explains the buzzing in my ears, and why everything has started to spin." Danny said, before his legs gave way and he started his downwards crash to the ground.

Chin and Lou acted quickly to stop Danny crashing to the ground, and injuring himself further. Carefully laying him on his left side Chin braced his friend at the hip to prevent him rolling while, Kono cradled his head in her lap and kept her fingers on his pulse, his heart was racing. Sirens filled the air as fire and ambulance crews arrived, and HPD officers scrambled to move the cruisers to allow them easier access.

Lou inspected the piece of glass. "What do we do? Do we pull it out?"

"No, I think we should leave it. The medics will be here soon." Chin signalled to the first crew that they were needed urgently.

Kono was the first to spot Danny's eyes flicker as he returned to consciousness. "Hey Danny, keep nice and still for me Brah. Helps on its way."

"Crap, my backs on fire. Did I get burnt?" Danny's right hand started to move toward the pain.

Chin intercepted the hand. "Easy Brah, you have some glass in your back. Medics are here now."

"Ani and Jonah are here Danny. They'll take care of you." Kono reassured, she still had her fingers on Danny's carotid, and didn't like how thready it was getting.

"What about the girl?"

"Duke is taking her to the second ambulance right now, and another just arrived to take care of S.W.A.T. Let's focus on you, huh." Lou scowl at Woolf who sat on the S.W.A.T. van's bumper, chemical ice pack held to his nose.

Ani and Jonah jogged over pushing a gurney. Seeing the house ablaze behind the team, they wanted to move fast in case it exploded again.

"Hey guys, what happened?" Ani asked.

"The house exploded as Danny was running to save a little girl. He has a shard of glass in his back. He was fine initially, even got into a fight with the idiot that started the fire, but when we split it up we realised he was bleeding, then he just collapsed. I don't know how he did all that with this in his back." Kono pointed to the shard.

"Adrenaline is a wonderfully thing, until it wears off, then comes the crash and burn." Seeing Danny was conscious she turned her attention to him. "Let's get you checked out quickly, and away from here, shall we?"

"Mmm, sounds good. Can you just pull it out? It hurts."

"I bet, but no we can't. It's best left in for now. I don't like the angle it's entering at. Jonah, can you secure it for transport while I get Danny set up with some fluids and pain relief?"

Jonah nodded and immediately started packing around the glass with gauze, and taping it to prevent the glass from moving. The shard had entered just under Danny's vest but had travelled in an upwards direction. Depending on how long the shard was, there was potential of it hitting something major. Ani wasted no time checking Danny's vitals, starting an IV, and administering some pain relief.

Jonah grabbed the backboard off the gurney and looked to the rest of the team who were anxiously watching their every move. "Guys, we will need your help for this one. We want to keep Danny as still as possible."

The team organised themselves quickly, a few more HPD officers were called in to assist, and soon Danny was safely strapped to the gurney, still on his side, and they were moving away from the house. As they reached the ambulance there were shouts from the fire crew as the far side of the house collapsed sending debris across the yard, scattering hot embers right where Danny had been laid.

After a brief discussion, it was decided that Kono would travel with Danny, while Chin and Lou would follow behind and do their best to contact Steve. Kono took the seat opposite Danny and watched as Ani started connecting him to the monitors. Jonah started the engine and pulled out at an alarming speed. The blonde had been far too quiet for Kono's liking and the numbers on the screen explained why, Danny's blood pressure was low and his heart was racing. The bleeding around the wound hadn't been that much which most likely meant there was internal bleeding, something Ani had obviously been concerned about, and Danny was clearly in shock.

As Ani attempted to secure on oxygen mask Danny pushed it away, "I don't need that. I already feel claustrophobic being strapped down."

Ani ignored him and positioned the mask. "Sorry Danny, I need to make sure you don't move so the straps are important, and you need the oxygen. Your blood pressure is too low, so this will mean your heart doesn't have to work so hard if we load your blood up with oxygen."

Danny accepted the mask then seemed to be thinking something over.

"Danny, you ok?" Kono could see her friend tiring.

"Yeah, I err. Jonah."

"Yes Danny." Jonah tilted an ear to listen to Danny but kept his eye on the road as he made his way through the mid-day traffic, siren blazing.

"Can you radio through to the hospital? Warn Dr. Andrea Pearce I'm coming in."

"Of course Danny." Jonah reached over and picked up the radio.

"Oh yes, I heard rumours you two were dating, so they're true then?" Ani adjusted the flow of fluids through the IV when the latest blood pressure reading popped up on the screen, lower than the previous one.

"Yeah, she's gonna be mad at me, we had to sign a load of waivers for her to be able to treat me, but she told me she didn't want to have to use them." Danny's eyes grew heavy, as did the rest of his body, and he suddenly felt grateful that Ani had insisted on the oxygen.

"Well about time Williams, I always thought you two would make a sweet couple," Ani smiled, "and I'm sure she will forgive you for this, you did save a little girl after all."

Danny didn't respond, just screwed his eyes up in pain, Ani didn't miss a beat and quickly administered a second dose of pain relief.

 **TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thanks for all the reviews. Glad you are liking it so far, I think it's time for a bit more Steve.**

 **Chapter Three**

Steve was starting to get a headache, two hours into their meeting. He and the governor had almost completed going over the team's expenditures. There was a knock on the door, then it opened and a middle-aged woman, with her hair tied back into a bun, entered.

"Ema, I told you I didn't want to be interrupted, this should have been completed last week." Governor Mahoe scolded her secretary.

"Apologies Governor, but this is important. I've just had Captain Grover on the phone. He's trying to get in touch with the Commander."

"What is it?" Steve could tell there was bad news to follow by the look on her face.

"I'm afraid Detective Williams has been injured. There was an incident involving HPD and S.W.A.T. I believe several members of S.W.A.T. have been injured too, but less seriously than the detective. Captain Grover is requesting the Commander meet them at Queens Medical as soon as possible." Ema explained.

"What? I left them all at the office." Steve stood and pulled out his phone, a missed call from Lou showing on the screen, but he had missed it as it was on silent. "Governor I need to..."

"Go, of course. We were almost done here. Please keep me updated. I'll be contacting HPD for a full briefing on the situation."

"Do you know how badly injured Danny was?" Steve asked Ema.

"I'm sorry, Captain Grover didn't say."

"Ok, thanks." Steve immediately rang Lou as he quickly made his way to his truck.

"Steve, you got our message." Lou answered the phone.

"What happened Lou? What happened to Danny?"

"It was dam Woolf. HPD called us in as they interrupted our meth dealers and were in a standoff. Woolf threw a dam flash bang in and the whole place exploded."

"Shit, how many were hurt?"

"Well our meth dealers are now rather toasty, and S.W.A.T. are battered and bruised. Woolf is sporting a broken nose thanks to our boy Danny."

"Danny? He punched Woolf? I thought he was hurt?" Steve now had Lou on speaker and was driving towards the hospital.

"He is, we didn't realise that he had been hit by glass from the explosion, I think it's pretty bad Steve. We're following behind the ambulance now, Kono has gone with him."

"Ok, I'll meet you guys there." Steve hung up the phone and sped up, anxious to see Danny for himself, and get more details about what went wrong. If Woolf really was to blame it was the last straw, and Steve was going to make sure the governor dealt with it properly.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Dr. Andrea Pearce waited anxiously for the ambulance to arrive. She was grateful for the warning that Danny had been injured, but now she was concerned about his condition. The initial information sounded serious. Finally, the ambulance arrived and Jonah jumped out and opened the back doors. Andrea's stomach flipped when she saw the well secured glass protruding from Danny's back. As the gurney was lowered down, and they started to move inside the hospital, she gently took hold of Danny's hand. Kono held back, deciding to wait for Chin and Lou to arrive.

"If I knew you wanted to see me that badly today you could have swung by after my shift." Andrea softly whispered in Danny's ear. His eyes were closed yet she knew he was still conscious from the small frown lines.

"Sorry babe." Danny whispered softy under the mask.

Switching back into doctor mode Andrea looked to Ani to hand over.

"We've secured the glass and moved him as little as possible. It's entering at an upwards angle and there is about two inches of glass outside the body. I've pushed fluids and pain relief, but his blood pressure is still falling. 82/45 at the last reading and heart rate is hovering around 110."

"Ok. Let's switch out that saline for a crystalloid. I want a full blood panel and cross match four units of blood." Dr. Pearce started to carefully remove the gauze to get a look at the wound and examine the angle to get a better idea of what damage could have been done. "I want an abdominal X-Ray and a Foley catheter.

Danny groaned at those words but the medical staff didn't take any notice as they sprang into action, cutting his cloths away and covering him with a sheet before carrying out Dr. Pearce's orders. X-Ray's done, and catheter in place, the head nurse called Dr. Pearce's attention to the blood in the bag.

"Crap, I was worried about that. Where's the X-Ray?"

Another nurse quickly brought the X-Ray up on screen, and nervous looks were passed between the two nurses, as it showed just how long the shard of glass was. There was at least three inches embedded in Danny's abdomen. Dr. Pearce bit her lip as she stared at the film, jolted from her thoughts as alarms sounded due to Danny's blood pressure dropping once again, she turned her attention back to her patient. "Hang a unit of blood and call CT, as soon as he's stable I want a better idea of what that thing is hitting."

An hour, and two units of blood later, Danny was as stable as he had been since he arrived at the hospital, and the CT had been obtained. Andrea pulled a chair over to the gurney and sat down so she was more at Danny's level. Taking his hand, she brushed back some of his hair that had fallen over his face. "Hey Danny, can you wake up for me?"

Danny slowly opened his eyes and gave a weak smile to his girlfriend. "Anything for you babe."

She smiled back then began to explain, "I have all the scan results and we need to talk."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's not. The scan showed the glass is lodged in your liver, and there is some bleeding around your kidney."

"So surgery?"

"Yes, surgery..." She hesitated and Danny immediately picked up on it.

"What is it?"

"Danny it's a risky surgery, the liver is a really vascular organ and your previous liver surgery makes it more complicated. Right now, we are just about keeping on top of the bleeding."

"Are you saying I might not make it through the surgery?" Danny realised how hard this conversation was for Andrea, as a small tear formed in her eye.

"There's a chance, yes." She answered honestly, trying to keep her voice steady.

"But if I don't have the surgery, I'll die, right?"

"Yes, the bleeding is too much to hope it will stop on its own, and we need to remove the glass."

"Then let's get on with it, it's ok. You got this." Danny squeezed her hand.

"Danny, I...I don't think I should. I can get Dr. Howe to do it, he is an excellent surgeon.

"No. I want you to do it. I trust you. You're the best and I know you can handle this. So, let's get it done, because I believe in you and I have a date tomorrow night."

Andrea smiled, then softly kissed his forehead, "I think we might need to change the location of that date to the hospital ICU."

"Ok, I'll get us jello. So, are we doing this?"

"Ok, I'll do the surgery, but I need you to promise me you will behave in there." Andrea knew it was out of Danny's hands, but it made her feel better none the less.

"I promise." Danny gently squeeze her hand.

Andrea glanced around, and saw the two nurses were busy at the other side of the room. She carefully removed Danny's oxygen mask and leaned forward, gently brushing her lips against his, "good because it would be just wrong to make me fall in love with you and then leave me."

"Not planning on going anywhere babe." Danny whispered back before summoning up his last reserves of energy to raise his hand to the back of Andrea's head and pull her in for a soft, yet passionate kiss.

Finally breaking apart, they smiled at each other, then Andrea became serious again. "Do you want to speak to the kids first? I don't think we have time to wait for them to get here, but we could call them."

Danny considered it for a second then shook his head, "no, I don't want to worry them. They know I love them, and I have everything in place for if anything does go wrong. I'll see them when it's over."

"Ok, I'll go fill the others in and we should have an OR soon." She replaced the oxygen mask and started to leave.

"Andrea, if Steve's here, I'd like to speak to him, alone."

"I'll send him in." She headed over to the head nurse, leaving orders to hang another unit of blood and to order further units, and an OR, before leaving the room to brief the team.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve had arrived at the hospital in record time, and joined the team in waiting for news. They had filled him in on the situation with Woolf, and he was fuming. A call to the governor had been placed, and he had been given assurances that Woolf would be placed on immediate suspension, pending an investigation.

Now the team were getting restless for news, and the hospital staff had had the foresight to move them to a smaller waiting room where they could wait alone. They all stood anxiously when Dr. Pearce entered.

"How's our boy, doc? Is it as bad as it looked?" Lou asked anxiously.

"Honestly, it's not good guys. The glass is lodged in his liver. At the moment, its stemming the blood loss, and while he is bleeding significantly, we have been able to keep up and keep him relatively stable. When we remove the glass the bleeding will most likely increase. It's a good job the EMT's secured the glass so well to prevent it from moving, if it had been removed at the scene he would have most likely bled out in minutes, but I... I can't promise that won't happen in surgery."

"Jeez." Lou rubbed a hand over his face.

"His liver?" Steve instantly paled, his hand falling to his scar from the lifesaving transplant surgery.

"I know what you're thinking Steve, and honestly, yes, his previous surgery does make things more complicated. I don't have the option of dissecting the liver and removing a lobe. However, you know Danny wouldn't want you feeling guilty about this, and the surgery is extremely risky in someone who hasn't undergone previous surgery. Please don't feel guilty."

"Does Danny know how serious it is?" Steve couldn't believe this was happening, only a few hours ago he had been teasing his friend, now he was seriously injured and they were being told there was a good chance he might not survive the surgery.

"He does, and he'd like to speak with you Steve, but we need to do it fast and keep it brief." Steve nodded and they started to leave when Dr. Pearce stopped and turned back to the rest of the team "I promise I will do everything I can to get him through this."

"Of course you will, you always do. We have faith in you." Kono came over and gave her a hug before returning to Chin's side and allowing the pair to go see Danny.

 **TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Thank you so much for the reviews. Sorry I haven't had time to reply to you all, crazy weekend of wedding dress shopping and now a sick child.**

 **Chapter Four**

Dr. Pearce waited outside the door while Steve entered the trauma room and sat on the seat next to Danny's gurney. His partner was still laid on his side, secured in place so he didn't move. The oxygen mask covered most of his face, but Steve could still see how pale his friend was. The sheet covered Danny's back so he was unable to see the wound but he knew it was bad.

"Hey," Danny startled Steve who'd thought his partner was sleeping.

"Hey, so I leave you in charge for an hour, and look what happens."

Danny just smiled, showing just how tired he was if he wasn't up to their usual banter. "Steve, I need you to do something for me."

"Of course buddy."

"If... if this doesn't go well..."

"Hey, everything is gonna be fine. You're dating the surgeon, she has more invested." Steve joked.

"And there lies the problem. Steve if this doesn't end well, I need you to make sure she doesn't blame herself."

"I told you everything is gonna be..."

"Steve please, I know how serious this is, and one of these days I'm gonna run out of borrowed time."

"I'm the one living on borrowed time, buddy, all because of you. Danny, this is far more complicated because of what you did for me, I... I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything you goof. Do you think I would go back and change my decision? Let you die? I had to land that plane while watching you bleed out. I didn't know if you were alive or not. I thought I'd lost my best friend. Then I realised I could save you. I wouldn't change that decision for the world. Yes, the fact that I gave you half my liver complicates things, but if I don't make it through this it will be because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, which I'm ok with, because it was the right place for that little girl."

Steve swallowed down a lump in his throat, "you know, if I could trade places with you right now I would."

"I know, but I don't need you to. I have no plans of not making it through this, but I need to know if the worst does happen that you will take care of Andrea."

"Of course I will." Steve promised.

"And the kids too."

"That goes without saying bud."

Steve placed his hand on Danny's shoulders to wiped away a small tear with his other hand, "it's gonna be fine, just stay away from the white light."

"Will do." Danny replied as the nurse came into the room and informed them that the OR was ready.

Steve walked with them as far as the OR doors. "Good luck bud."

"Thanks, Steve. I love you man."

"Love you too buddy. I'll see you when the surgery is done."

Steve watched as they pushed Danny into the OR, desperately hoping it wasn't the last time he saw his best friend alive.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Two hours later the team were patiently waiting for news, fully aware that it would most likely be a few more hours before the surgery was over. Each sat quietly, Lou was flicking through an out of date magazine while Kono sat with her head resting on Chin's shoulder. Steve was sat by the one window in the room, staring out and watching what little clouds were in the sky, pass by. A knock to the door caught their attention.

A young man stood there looking nervous. "I'm sorry to bother you, you're Five-0. Right?"

"That's right, I'm Commander McGarrett. Head of Five-0, what can I do for you?" Steve stood and shook the man's hand.

"Oh, your team have already done more than enough for us. I'm Nathan Long, my daughter Lilly went missing this morning, and thanks to your team we get to take her home tonight." The team smiled realising that at least some good had come from the whole mess. "My wife and I can't thank you enough. I only left her playing in the yard for a second to answer the phone. We thought the yard was child proof, but she proved us wrong. We think she saw a cat and followed it, she loves cats, to think what might have happened if your detective hadn't seen her."

"Try not to focus on that too much, and don't blame yourself either." Lou consoled. "Kids are quick. When my eldest was three I lost her in a supermarket for ten whole minutes. One minute she was by my side, the next, gone. Man, those were the longest, scariest, ten minutes of my life."

"We're just glad she was found, is she ok?" Chin enquired.

"Perfectly fine, not even a scratch. The doctors have checked her over, and we can take her home. My wife is waiting in the ER for us to head home, but I wanted to come and say thank you, and find out how the detective was doing. The HPD officer said he had been hurt in the explosion while protecting Lilly."

"Detective Williams is still in surgery. He was hit by some glass, and critically injured." Steve explained, touched that the man had taken time away from his daughter to check on their friend.

"Oh my, I didn't realise it was that serious." Seconds later realisation dawned on Nathan, and he teared up. "If he hadn't seen Lilly she would have been killed. He risked his life to save my daughter."

"Danny has two children of his own. He loves kids. He would have done what he did ten times over, even knowing the outcome. He will be relieved to know that Lilly is ok." Steve knew that Danny's only thoughts at the time would have been to get to the little girl, no matter the danger.

"He'll be ok? Won't he?" Nathan anxiously asked.

"Of course he will, and I'm sure once he is feeling better he would love a visit from Lilly." Kono refused to believe that there was going to be anything but a good outcome.

"I'm sure we can do that. If you could let me know when he is up to it. Well I should be getting back to my wife, and Lilly. But thank you all once again, and please pass on my thanks to the detective."

Kono left with the girl's father, exchanging contact details with him, before returning to the waiting room with coffee for everyone. The team had gone back to silently waiting, pleased that Lilly was ok, they now hoped Danny would be too.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Dr. Pearce waited with Danny while the anaesthetist, Dr. Brown, put him under, holding his hand until his grasp relaxed. Once Danny was intubated she went to scrub ready for the surgery. She watched through the glass as the team prepared Danny. Dr. Brown inserted a central line then an arterial line to allow for better monitoring, then they carefully moved Danny so he was laid on his front.

Assisted by a resident, the surgery began. it didn't take them long to identify the source of the blood in the catheter bag. The glass had lacerated Danny's right kidney. Carefully the pair of surgeons repaired the damage. Content with the repair, they then turned their attention to the more serious damage, as they repaired what they could see around the glass shard, Dr. Pearce looked to the anaesthetist. "How's he doing?"

"He's holding his own, BP's better since you fixed the kidney. I've just hung another unit of blood." Dr. Brown set about documenting another set of vitals.

"Ok, I think we need to remove the glass now. We can't do anymore with it in place. Have you got plenty more blood?"

"Another three, type specific. I've got adrenaline and dopamine on standby if needed."

Dr. Pearce nodded, grateful that she had an experienced team around her. They were all aware of her relationship with the man on the table, and we're doing their best to support her through a difficult surgery.

"Get ready with the suction and retractors, this could get messy. Everyone ready?" The team signalled they were ready, tension high in the air.

The resident carefully removed the shard of glass, and Dr. Pearce had been right to be worried, blood immediately pooled into the area. The nurse was quick with the suction, trying to clear the field so the surgeons could find the source of the massive haemorrhaging.

"BP's crashing." Dr. Brown quickly hung more blood as alarms started to sound.

"I can't see the bleeder. We need more suction. Pull back on that retractor." Dr. Pearce ordered.

"Heart rates falling. You need to find it fast." Dr. Brown pushed in adrenalin which had little effect.

"I can't find it, there's too much blood. Get another suction unit." One of the nurses ran to the side to get a portable suction unit.

"Heart rates down to twenty and falling. We need to turn him and start CPR." Dr. Brown started to ready his equipment.

"No wait." Dr. Pearce ordered as a second nurse joined her colleague in suctioning the readily flowing blood. "Give me one more minute."

"He doesn't have another minute, he just flat lined." Dr. Brown called out but he didn't need to, the screech of the monitors told them everything they needed to know. Their worst fear was being realised. Their patient was bleeding out on the table, and Dr. Pearce was losing the man she loved.

 **TBC**

 **runs and hides**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: come on we all love a good cliffie, but I didn't keep you waiting too long.**

 **Chapter Five**

Dr. Pearce took a deep breath before entering the waiting room. Her heart was still racing, and her once steady hands now had a subtle tremor to them. As she entered the room all four team members stood and nervously looked at her. Tears immediate flooded her eyes, and she couldn't keep her usual professional front up any longer as a sob racked through her body.

Kono ran to her side and drew her into a hug.

"Oh god, no." She heard Steve almost cry.

Trying to catch a hold of her breath she flashed back to the OR.

" _He doesn't have another minute, he just flat lined." Dr. Brown announced. "Dr. Pearce, Andrea, we need to turn him and start CPR."_

 _"No." She forcefully shouted while dissecting down a little more, "if I don't clamp this bleeder he doesn't stand a chance. Suction now."_

 _The nurses who had stopped suctioning, immediately started again. With Danny's heart not beating the bleeding had slowed, finally allowing them to see better. Dr. Pearce acted fast, securing a clamp around the bleeding vessel. "I got it, flip him. Push more blood."_

 _Carefully they rolled Danny, making sure the clamp wasn't dislodged. The minute he was laid on his back Dr. Pearce started compressions, as Dr. Brown hung another bag of blood and sent a runner to the blood bank to fetch more, as well as plasma and platelets. "Come on Danny, don't do this. Fight for me!"_

 _"Let me." The resident took over compressions, on seeing his colleague begin to tire. Dr. Pearce stepped away realising he was right, and moved towards Danny's head. "Come on Danny, stay with me. You promised me."_

Finally, catching her breath, she was able to reassure the team. "No, no. I'm sorry. He made it through surgery. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression."

The team let out a sigh of relieve, each looking distraught as they watched the usually cool doctor pull herself together. Wiping tears from her face she started to explain herself. "He gave us a real scare in there. When we removed the glass, we couldn't see where the bleeding was coming from, and he crashed." She couldn't help flashing back once again, emotions raw, she kept going over it in her head.

" _Anything?" She asked hopefully as they paused to assess Danny's condition._

 _"I've got a weak, slow pulse. Keep going with the compressions while I push another unit. I'm starting him on dopamine." Dr. Brown announced. Dr. Pearce's eyes fixated on the monitors as the green line started to pick up speed in its dance across the screen. "BP's coming up. We can turn him to finish the surgery now."_

 _"Thank you." Dr. Pearce smiled to everyone in the OR. "I need a few minutes to compose myself. I'm gonna go re scrub." Making her way to the scrub sinks she grabbed hold of the sink and battled to calm her nerves. She needed a steady hand to complete the surgery. A few deep breaths, and she forced her feelings down, locking them away for after the surgery, removing her gloves she grabbed hold of a scrub pack and began her earlier process, once again watching as her colleagues prepared Danny for the remaining surgery._

Realising the team were waiting for more information, she moved to sit and motioned the rest to do so too. "We were finally able to get a clamp on the bleeder and resuscitate him. We have repaired the damage to his liver, and before the scare had repaired a laceration to his kidney. I've moved him straight to the ICU where we are continuing to transfuse blood products."

"But he's going to be ok?" Steve needed some reassurance.

"At the moment we are still treating him for hypovolemic shock. His blood pressure is still low, and we are having to give him drugs to maintain it. Hopefully, after the transfusions that will improve. He is really weak at the moment so I want to give him time to rest. I've decided to keep him sedated, and ventilated overnight, to give his body time to rest. We will also need to keep a close eye on his liver and kidney function."

"Can we see him?" Kono asked hopefully.

"Not at the moment I'm afraid, once he is more stable I'll make sure you have full access. I should be getting back to him." She started to stand but Lou put his hand on her shoulder and forced her back down.

"Not so fast, Sista, I'm sure Danny is in good hands in the ICU, right now you need a good strong coffee. I'm gonna run to the coffee cart outside and get us all a decent cup. I'll update HPD too."

"Thanks Lou." Steve appreciated how strong his team were in a crisis.

Dr. Pearce seemed to accept the order, realising that they were right, and if she was going to be of any use to Danny she needed time to compose herself.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

The team had finally been granted access to Danny. Sat around his bed it was hard to believe that he was doing well. Dr. Pearce was happy with his progress, but their friend still looked so ill. Tube still in place, and connected to the ventilator, the machine sounds filled the room. While they had been told the blood transfusion insitu would be the last, he still looked deathly pale. Then there were all the wires, drains, and lines connected to their friend.

Dr. Pearce had excused herself from any other patients, and sat beside Danny's bed, her hand resting on his, while Steve sat the other side.

Kono decided to break the silence, "so Danny, we had a visit from the little girl's father, her name is Lilly, and she is doing just fine."

"Yeah, you did a good job there, bud, and don't worry about Woolf, he's been suspended, and if I have anything to do with it he won't be back." Steve had the backing of HPD and most of S.W.A.T. on that one.

Once Dr. Pearce had returned to Danny, the team had been left waiting again. During that time Duke had called to see how Danny was doing, and informed them that he had lodged a formal complaint against the captain. Several members of S.W.A.T. had also stopped by after being released for their injuries, all looking for an update on the detective. Fed up of the way Woolf spoke to them, and how he handled situations, they were prepared to give statements also.

Chin surprised them all by suddenly starting to chuckle, "what's so funny cuz?" Kono asked surprised at her cousin's outburst.

"I'm sorry, but I was just thinking about how he went down when Danny punched him. Lead and balloon comes to mind." Again, Chin couldn't help but chuckle.

"I wish I'd have seen it." Steve finally broke a smile.

"Oh, it was beautiful. Not one, but two good punches. A broken nose for sure." Lou was beaming with pride.

"It was. My colleague had the displeasure of setting it for him." Andrea informed them.

"It's the least he deserved, it's nothing compared to what Danny has gone through. He's going to be ok, isn't he?" Kono looked to their new Ohana member for support.

"I think so, but he has a way to go yet. We're weaning the dopamine, and his blood pressure is holding. That's a positive sign."

"But..." Steve sensed she was holding back.

"His kidney function is ok, but his liver figures are a little off. I suppose that can be forgiven though given the trauma it just went through. Two major surgeries in such a short time is a lot for an organ to go through. He feels a little warm too. I have already started him on antibiotics, given the glass was dirty, but I may add in another if I'm right about him running a fever."

"An infection? Is he strong enough to fight that off?" Steve checked his friend's temperature with the back of his hand.

"I hope so. He's already defied the odd and fought through. If anyone can get through this, its Danny." Andrea slipped her other hand under Danny's so his hand was encased between both of hers.

The team settled back, contemplating her words. She was right, Danny had fought to stay alive, but he hadn't fought alone. Andrea had been by his side the whole time, and she remained by his side now. The two of them fighting together, there was no way Danny wasn't going to pull through.

 **TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: sorry for the delay, here is the next chapter. Thanks for taking the time to review.**

 **Chapter Six**

The next afternoon saw Steve sat by Danny's bedside. Dr. Pearce had reviewed his condition and stopped the sedation. Successfully extubated, and breathing for himself, Danny was doing well and she had been forced to leave his side to check on her other patients.

Steve was aware that Danny was close to waking. Attuned to his partner's every move, he had picked up on the subtle eye movements and finger twitches. It took another thirty minutes for his friend to fight his way out of the fog, and force his eyes open. "Danny, hey buddy." Steve spoke quietly so not to startle his friend, while hitting the nurse call button.

"Hey." Danny croaked and Steve grabbed some ice chips and offered them to the blonde.

"It's good to have you back with us. Surgery is over and you're doing well."

Danny looked around the ICU room. "Where's Andrea?"

"She'll be here soon, you're not her only patient you know. She spent the night by your side, but you were too busy being sleeping beauty." Steve was relieved to see Danny was coherent, the medical staff hadn't thought it likely, but after an arrest there was always the possibility of brain damage.

"She ok?" Danny knew his girlfriend was reluctant to perform the surgery, and was concerned by her absence.

"She is now you're on the mend, but you put her through hell in the surgery."

"Knew she'd get me through it." Danny smiled.

"It was touch and go Danny." The smile had disappeared from Steve's face as he remembered just how close they had come to losing him.

"That why my chest hurts?" Danny asked, his hand carefully splayed across his breastbone.

"Yeah, how bad is the pain? Do you need more pain relief? I already called the nurse, she should be here soon. I don't know what's taking so long."

"I'm right here." Dawn, Danny's nurse, entered the room, Dr. Pearce right behind her. "I had orders to page a certain someone as soon as Danny woke."

Dr. Pearce smiled at her friend and work colleague, before heading straight to Danny's side, taking hold of his hand and kissing him softly on the forehead. "Are you in pain?"

"More discomfort really. My chest feels sore. My back aches a bit, but I'm ok." Danny answered honestly.

"Your chest is going to feel uncomfortable for a while I'm afraid. You arrested during the surgery and we had to preform CPR. Your x-ray didn't show any broken ribs, but you will probably be bruised for a while."

"I'm sorry." Danny gently squeezed her hand. It was scary for him knowing his heart had stopped, it must have been horrendous for her to not only witness it, but be in charge of the resuscitation.

"Just keep improving like you are, and I'll forgive you." She smiled tenderly.

"So when can I get out of here?" Danny attempted to shift a little in the bed, but instantly regretted it when pain flashed through his back.

"Easy tiger. I have no plans to move you from the ICU today, let alone let you go home. The glass lacerated your kidney, which we managed to fix, and your bloods are looking good from that point. However, your liver is another story." Dr. Pearce adjusted Danny's bed so he was sat up a little more. "I've just been looking at your last set of bloods, and your figures aren't where I'd like them to be. Your bilirubin is elevated, and I can see you're a bit jaundiced."

Steve looked at his friend and realised she was right, the whites of Danny's eyes held a yellow tinge, and his once pale skin now looked slightly yellow. His stomach flipped with guilt.

"I've ordered a portable ultrasound to check the blood flow to your liver. I want to make sure we didn't compromise it during surgery. Hopefully all is well, and it's just taking a little time to recover from the trauma."

"What if the blood flow is comprised? Will he need more surgery?" Steve hoped his friend was on the mend once they removed the ventilator, now he was hearing about potential problems.

"Possibly, but hopefully it won't come to that." Dr. Pearce checked Danny's chart for his latest set of vitals. "Your temperature is also slightly elevated so I want to keep you in the ICU until we have all that sorted out. For now, you should rest. The ultrasound should be about an hour, and once that's done, if you feel up to it, you can sit in the chair for a little while."

"That sounds good." Danny was keen to get moving.

"Only for half an hour though, you're weak and need to rest, plus your back muscles were damaged by the glass. We had to cut them further during surgery so they will be very sore for some time while they heal."

Danny nodded, his back was still throbbing from his earlier attempt at moving.

"I wish I could stay, but I still have patients I need to see." Andrea wanted to stay by her boyfriend's side, but she was duty bound to check on her other patients.

"Babe it's fine. I'm fine. Besides, I have this big oath to keep me company." Danny understood she had a job to do.

"Hey, that's the thanks I get for sleeping by your bedside all night." Steve acted hurt, but really was pleased to see Danny attempting to banter, it meant his friend was on the mend.

Danny gave a small smile in his friend's direction, but focused his attention on his girlfriend. "I promise I'll be the model patient, rest and heal, now go take care of everyone else."

"Make sure you tell Dawn if you are in pain, no being the hero, we've had enough of that. I'll be back as soon as I can." With those orders, she gently kissed him on the forehead and left the room.

Steve waited until Andrea and Dawn had left. "So how you really feeling?"

"Awful." Danny truthfully admitted. "My back and chest are sore, and I feel so tired."

"Sleep then."

"Not yet, I need bringing up to date. Is the little girl ok?" Danny needed some answers before he could truly rest.

"She's all good, bud. Back home with her parents where she belongs. They are extremely grateful to you, and will bring her by for a visit once you're feeling better."

Danny smiled, grateful she was ok. He refused to think about what could have happened to her if he hadn't seen her. His mood instantly turned sourer when he thought of Woolf.

"What's happening with Woolf? Can you believe that idiot threw a flash bang in there? He's a bigger Neanderthal than you, at least you assess the situation properly before going all Rambo."

"I'm gonna take that as a complement and ignore the Neanderthal comment." Steve sat back in his chair ready to deliver the good news. "Woolf has been suspended, pending an investigation, but he won't be back. His own team has turned on him, that stunt yesterday was the last straw."

"Good. The man is an idiot, if I had to work with him again..."

"You'd break his nose again?" Steve smiled smugly.

"It's broken?" Danny joined Steve in smiling.

"Hell, yeah. I wish I'd been there to see it." Steve had had the pleasure of punching Woolf before, but had only drew a little blood. Having been on the receiving end of one of Danny's punches, he wasn't surprised he had broken bone. The blonde may be small in stature but he sure packed a mean punch.

"If you'd have been there it wouldn't have happened. He would have stood down and listened to you. He made it quite clear I was only a detective and out ranked my most of the team." Danny's smile faded as he remembered Woolf's harsh words.

"Hey. Hey." Steve attempted to get Danny's attention. "That's a load of crap and you know it. You might have a detective title, but you are my partner, and second in command of the team. We all bring our unique qualities to the team, which is what makes us so effective. But it's your cautiousness and prospective on situations that often keep us alive. Yesterday it was that awareness that saved a little girls life."

Danny sighed, then managed a smile. His body was doing its best to remind him he was in the ICU and in need of some rest. While the pain had settled, a full body exhaustion had set in. Steve saw his friend tiring and decided to step in.

"That's enough for now Danny, get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Don't you have a case to work?"

"Nope, thanks to Woolf our dealers are rather crispy, and hanging out with Max. CSU found evidence that they were storing all the meth they cooked in the house. Case closed, so I can hang here with you."

"And watch me sleep? That's just creepy." Danny fumbled for the bed control, finding it difficult to move with the arterial line still secured to his wrist, and his other hand tangled in a stats probe.

Steve took hold of the control and slowly lowered the bed. "Yep that's me, a creepy Neanderthal, who is very grateful to still have his best friend alive. I love you man."

"I love you too, my creepy Neanderthal." Danny's eyes slid closed with a smile on his face, finally giving into exhaustion.

 **TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Apologies for the delay. Here is the next chapter.**

 **Chapter Seven**

Danny was beginning to understand why Andrea had said he should only sit out for half an hour. After the ultrasound had been done, it had taken both Steve and Dawn to assist him out of bed and into the chair. His back had protested the whole way though, and now twenty minutes after sitting out it was screaming at him to lay back down.

"You ok?" Steve had seen his friend uncomfortably shift his position.

"My back hurts, but I can manage another ten minutes."

"I can call Dawn now. Get you back to bed."

"No, Andrea said thirty minutes." Danny again attempted to find a comfortable position.

"She said a maximum of thirty minutes." Steve was already standing and heading to the door to ask for help.

Dawn entered several minutes later, "you ready to get back into bed Danny?"

"Not really, is there any way of doing this without it hurting so much?" Danny longed to get back in bed, but it had taken all his strength to get out, now he just wished he could click his fingers and magically be in bed.

"We'll take it steady, and I'll give you a bolus of pain relief first, how's that sound?"

It wasn't the magic fix he had hoped for, but the best they could do. "Ok, hit me with the good stuff."

Dawn unlocked the pain pump and keyed in a bolus dose to be delivered via the central line that remained in Danny's neck. She then busied herself getting the bed ready, giving the drugs time to work. Once she had all Danny's lines and drains in order she turned to her patient. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." The pain relief had dialled back the stabbing pain in his back to a mild throb.

Steve helped Danny to shaky feet, and carefully all three shuffled around so he could perch on the edge of the bed.

"I need a second." Danny puffed, his whole body was trembling from exhaustion, and white dots had started to dance in the peripheries of his vision.

"Take as long as you need Danny." Dawn reassured him. She took the opportunity to check the dressings on his back.

"Ok, I'm good now." Danny attempted to swing his legs into the bed, but struggled to raise them enough.

"I've got you Danno." Steve quickly swung his friend's legs back into bed and stood back so Dawn could reposition the lines, and cover his friend with a sheet.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?" Danny sighed, resting his head back against the pillow, and closed his eyes for a minute to give his body a chance to recover from the exhaustion. The pain had started radiating from his back to a much deeper, internal pain, which stole his breath for a second, then caused his aching ribs to flare.

Steve frowned as he saw his friends hand trembling, a glance at the monitor showed his heart was still racing. "At least once more. You ok bud?" When Danny didn't answer, and kept focusing on his breathing Steve's concern grew. "Danny...Danno?"

Dawn also became concerned and started checking vitals, as she finished Dr. Pearce rushed into the room. "What happened?"

"We just helped him back to bed. BP and heart rate are elevated, resps are up too, but shallow. I think he's just in pain. I gave him a bolus before we started to move." Dawn explained.

Dr. Pearce gently placed her hand on Danny's arm, her fingers resting on his pulse point and observed the monitors. "Let's give him another bolus and get a heat pack for his chest. I have a feeling those ribs are bothering him more than he's letting on."

Dawn hit the pain pump then hurried out of the room to fetch a heat pack. As the medication once again dialled the pain back down Danny was able to open his eyes, and focus his attention on the worried faces of his best friend and girlfriend. "Sorry, I'm good now."

"I'll decide that once I've finished my exam. Now where was the pain?"

"Back, but it shot through to my front. Really I'm ok now, moving just disagreed with me."

Dr. Pearce ignored Danny and set about carefully palpating his abdomen. Steve watched anxiously as he saw his friend squirm a little in obvious discomfort. "Everything feels fine. I think you're right and the movement was just too much. We'll keep you on bed rest for the rest of the day, and try sitting out again tomorrow." Danny immediately frowned, knowing this didn't bode well for a quick discharge, and it didn't go unmissed by his observant girlfriend. "Danny, I know you're keen to get out of here, but we need to take this steady. You nearly didn't make it through the surgery, and your injuries will take time to heal."

"So he's ok?" Steve was relieved to see Danny looking better, now the extra pain relief had kicked in.

"He's fine, he just needs to rest and we need to keep on top of his pain." Dr. Pearce reassured Steve then continued to deliver both men the good news that she had been on her way to deliver, when she was alerted to a problem in Danny's room. "I have good news. I've just looked over your ultrasound results and the blood flow to your liver is good, and the latest set of bloods showed some slight improvement. I'm confident of a full recovery."

"That's brilliant news." Steve beamed with relief, while Danny managed a small smile. It was obvious to everyone that he was tiring quickly and as the latest dose of pain relief took full effect it wouldn't be long before he was asleep.

Dawn returned and carefully placed the heat pad on Danny's chest. An unfortunate side effect of the life saving measures, Danny's ribs and sternum would be sore for some time to come. Danny's smile widened as the heat soothed the aching bones, and his eyes slipped shut.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

The rest of the day was uneventful. Steve remained by Danny's side, who spent most of the day dozing or engaging in a little conversation. Each member of the team stopped by individually, and stayed for a short time. It was obvious to Danny that Steve had kept them updated on his condition, and warned them to keep their visit brief so not to overtire their friend.

Mid evening Andrea returned to the room. Having finished her shift, she had called to the canteen and acquired her and Steve some food, and brought Danny some broth. Just as they finished up Steve's phone rang and he quickly excused himself. Returning minutes later he apologised, "I'm sorry, I have to go. The governor wants to see me."

"Now? It's getting pretty late. Is everything ok?" Danny became concerned.

"It's fine. She's spent all day sorting out this Woolf mess, and wants to discuss it with me before she makes any decisions. I won't be too long." Steve reassured.

"You don't need to come back. I'm in good hands here."

"Oh, I know, I'll see you later buddy." Steve nodded to Andrea as he left the room.

Danny watched his friend leave then did his best to stifle a yawn, awake for almost two hours he was ready to sleep yet again, which frustrated him to no end.

"You should sleep." Andrea straightened the sheet then held Danny's hand. "I meant what I said about resting. I almost lost you yesterday and I do not want to have to go through that again, so you will be the model patient and do as your doctor orders."

"Yes boss." Danny knew better than to argue with her, besides he knew she had been through hell. While she was unfortunately used to seeing Danny injured, this was the first time he had been injured while they had been dating. "But, I do have one proviso."

"A proviso? Really?" Andrea was irked by the nerve of her boyfriend.

"Yep." Danny shifted over slightly in his bed and started to pull Andrea closer. "You sleep too. I know you're exhausted."

Kicking her shoes off Andrea carefully laid down next to Danny, taking a second to enjoy the closeness, she carefully cuddled into Danny's embrace and whispered, "I can agree to that proviso. Now sleep."

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

The meeting with the governor had taken longer than he liked, so it was late when Steve returned to the ICU. Pleased with the outcome he smiled to himself as he approached the nurses station. The night nurse sat at the desk doing paperwork, as Steve drew nearer she looked up at him and smiled, then raised a finger to her lips and made a shushing motion.

Nodding to her he quietly entered Danny's ICU room, and stopped at the door. Now he knew why the nurse was smiling. Both his friends were fast asleep, wrapped in each other's arms. Danny looked the most settled, since the sedation was stopped. Deciding Danny was in good hands he turned around and headed home for the night.

 **TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here is the final chapter. A big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review. And of course another thank you to Wenwalke.**

 **Chapter Eight**

The next afternoon saw Danny sat in a new room. Pillows wedged behind him to ease his back, he had managed to sit out for forty minutes, and wasn't far off his target of an hour. Assessed and deemed well enough to leave the ICU that morning, Danny was feeling more alert. Arterial and central line removed, he now had two shiny new cannulas for IV fluids, pain relief, and antibiotics. His movements were less restricted, and the trip from bed to chair had been much easier.

Andrea had left Danny once he was settled with a promise to return at lunch. Steve had made an early morning call to inform them he would be in later, as the team had been called out to a double homicide. Alone for the first time since the incident, he now had time to reflect on how badly things had gone. Eager to hear how Steve's meeting with the governor went, he was lost in thought until he was startled by a noise at the door.

Captain Woolf stood at the door to his room. Danny couldn't help but crack a smile at the pair of panda eyes, and the nose splint. His memory of the fight was hazy. He had been fuelled by adrenalin, and despite being injured he had managed to get in a solid punch. The results stood before him. Woolf was obviously pissed, and not just because of the broken nose. "You happy with yourself now, Williams?"

"Excuse me?" Danny watched Woolf stumble further into the room, the smell of stale alcohol assaulting his senses. Woolf had obviously been on a drinking binge to drown his sorrows. "Woolf, I don't think you should be here."

"Where else should I be? Not work, that's for sure. Thanks to you, and the rest of your Five-0 cronies." Woolf towered over Danny in his seated position.

"Woolf, you brought all this on yourself, now why don't you go home and sleep the alcohol off."

"I already told you, I don't take orders from you." Woolf stumbled and braced himself against the hospital bed.

"Just go home, Woolf. I just got moved out of the ICU. I almost died, no thanks to you. I mean who throws a god damn flash bang into a suspected meth lab." Danny looked around for the nurse call button to ask them to escort Woolf out of his room, but was disappointed to see it on the far side of the bed, and out of reach.

"I didn't know it was a meth lab. I was controlling the situation."

"You call almost killing everyone, including a little girl, controlling the situation? If you'd have gained more intel before storming the house, you would have known we were there because it was linked to our case of meth dealers. There was every chance they were cooking the damn stuff in there. Look Woolf, you made a bad call, and are being punished for it. It's no one's doing but your own. Now go home."

"Home, home." Woolf started laughing uncontrollably which left Danny confused, and feeling uneasy. "How the hell do I go home and tell my wife that I just lost my job?"

"Lost your job?" Danny responded, he knew Woolf's actions would have serious consequences, but he didn't expect him to actually get fired, even with Steve pushing for it.

"Don't act like you didn't know. It's what you all wanted." Woolf moved closer and poked Danny in the shoulder. "You and your team think you own the island. Think your gods on the Governor's elite team."

"Back off, Woolf." Danny pushed Woolf's hand away, who then lost his balance and flailed his arms around. Catching hold of the IV line, he ripped it out of Danny's arm. "What the hell Woolf? You're a drunk mess."

Woolf recovered his footing and lunged at Danny, grabbing hold off the grey t-shirt the blonde wore, he dragged Danny to his feet, which elicited an involuntary yelp as pain shot though his back, and he stood on shaky feet.

"Woolf, let go." Danny tried to push away the inebriated Captain, but in his weakened state he was unable to dislodge the enraged man.

"It's all your fault, you had it in for me from day one, you got yourself shot trying to save your girlfriend, and now you get me fired because a situation went bad."

"Let go of me Woolf, now."

Woolf started shaking Danny. "I've lost my job, my pension. I hate you."

Danny needed to put a stop to this as soon as possible. His body was screaming in pain with every shake, and Woolf was so drunk he was beyond reasoning. After another weak attempt to dislodge himself from Woolf's hold failed, he had no other option. Cocking his head back as far as he could he launched it forward. His forehead connected with Woolf's splinted nose, and blood splattered everywhere as Woolf screamed and threw Danny to the floor.

Stumbling around, hand to his nose as blood freely flowed from the rebroken nose, Woolf kicked out at Danny. "You broke my nose again you bastard. I'm gonna kill you."

"Take one more step and it will be the last thing you do, Woolf." Danny looked across the room to the door, and was relieved to see Steve stood there, gun drawn and trained on Woolf. The rest of the team stood just behind him, hands sitting on their weapons in case things took a turn for the worse.

"Saved by the rest of your team Williams." Woolf snarled.

"Whatever Woolf, just get the hell out of here." Danny spat as he pushed himself into a seated position on the floor.

Steve moved further into the room and forced Woolf over to Lou and Chin. "Can you guys take care of this low life, book him for assaulting a police officer."

"Don't worry Steve, we got this." Lou grabbed hold of Woolf and started to cuff him as Andrea ran passed them, having been alerted to the situation. She headed straight to Danny who was still on the floor, bleeding.

"No. Don't." Danny called from the floor. "Just take him home and let him sleep off the alcohol."

"Danny, he just assaulted you?" Steve was flummoxed why Danny would want to let him get away with this, when he was the reason Danny almost died.

"He's drunk and just lost his job. Just take him home guys." Danny was already wincing as Andrea skillfully checked him over.

"OK, Danny. We can do that." Chin nodded, respecting his friends wishes. "Looks like your luck just turned for the better, Woolf."

"You might want to take him via the ER, that nose will need resetting." Andrea called not looking away from Danny. She had grabbed some gauze from a nearby trolley, and was applying pressure to the wound on his back that was bleeding. Danny held another piece of gauze to his forearm where the cannulas had been ripped out.

"Is he ok?" Kono asked as the others left the room.

"I'm fine." Danny grit out between his teeth. Without the pain relief drip, his body was screaming and an overwhelming exhaustion was taking hold of him.

"I think he just bust some stitches, but I'd like to get him back into bed and assess him properly." Dr. Pearce reassured.

"I'm ok. I just got thrown to the floor when I head butted him. Really, I just want to get back to bed, and sleep."

"Fine." Dr. Pearce conceded, happy that he was just a little shaken, and in need of a few new stitches, "but you'll need this first." Taking a syringe from the nurse she plunged it into Danny's upper arm and injected its contents.

"Awe, warn a guy would ya." Danny complained, but already the mediation was starting to have an effect, and the pain started to recede, his eyes starting to droop. Next thing he was aware of was a floaty feeling. He knew his friends were helping the hospital staff to get him off the floor and back into bed. He made an attempt to help them but his limbs felt heavy.

"Take it easy Danno, we got you. Doc shot you up with the good stuff. Just rest." Steve ordered. For once Danny decided not to argue and gave into the darkness.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Danny opened his eyes to find the room in semidarkness. The blinds were closed, and the small overhead light was on, tilted away from his face. Realising it was now evening, and he must have been asleep for most of the afternoon, he frowned as memories of Woolf's visit came back.

"Hey, sleeping beauties up everyone." Steve announced, seeing his friend's eyes blink open.

"Hey, Danny. How you feeling?" Kono sat forward in her chair and Danny realised the whole team was in his room.

"Where you guys all just watching me sleep? Don't you have a double homicide to work?" Danny attempted to roll over, but realised there was a pillow in his back, protecting what he guessed were several new stitches.

Chin stood up and carefully moved the offending pillow, then raised the head of the bed so Danny could see his friends better. "We solved the case hours ago, and after what went down with Woolf, we wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'm fine, right?" Danny looked to Steve knowing he would have been briefed on his condition.

"You popped a few stitches. Andrea reassured us that you were ok and just exhausted, but we were beginning to worry given how long you've been asleep."

"Hey, it's not my fault. Andrea drugged me. Speaking of which, where is she?" Danny was a little disappointed to see her absent from the room.

"She got called into an emergency surgery. Don't worry she'll be back as soon as she's done." Steve hadn't missed the disappointed tone to Danny's voice.

"Did Woolf make it home ok?"

"He sure did, to an ear full from the Mrs. Man, I thought Renee was scary, she has nothing on that woman. If he didn't have a headache from the rebroken nose, and hangover, he sure will when she finished chewing him out." Lou was smiling as he remembered Woolf's wife yelling at the broken man. While Danny had found sympathy for Woolf, the rest of the team had nothing but dislike for him, he had nearly taken their friend from them.

"He said he'd been fired, that true?"

"Yeah. The governor didn't have a choice, really. Once she read all the statements against him from his team, and us. Lieutenant Yaw is going to take over as temporary team leader. He and the rest of the team send their best."

"That's good. The man was a liability."

"I still don't get why you didn't what his ass arresting." Lou would have happily marched him down to the station and booked him.

"His life is in ruins. He doesn't need any more trouble right now. He lost his job and won't be putting anyone else at risk. That's enough." Danny started picking at the tape covering the site where one of the cannulas had been ripped from, already a bruise was forming.

"I have some news." Kono wanted to lighten the mood. "I spoke with Mr. Long today. He and Lilly would really like to visit you in a few days' time. If you're up to it. Apparently little Lilly hasn't stopped talking about the brave police man who rescued her.

A smile returned to Danny's face, "yeah that would be good. Hopefully I can get out of here soon, then they won't have to come to the hospital."

"I don't know, Danny, I don't think you should rush things." Steve worried.

"Are you serious? How can you say that? Mr. I had a transplant and went back to work the next day."

"The next day? Stop being dramatic. I did what you asked, and took a few days." Steve bantered back.

"Yeah while on the phone every two minutes for an update." Kono giggled, seeing Steve's annoyance she continued, "it's true boss, you didn't really take much time off."

Danny looked smug and fist bumped Kono, "thanks for backing me up babe."

"You're welcome, but..."

"Oh no. I don't like that but…" Danny knew what was coming.

"You almost died too, Danny, which means you need to take some time." Kono finished.

"Thank you, Kono." Steve reached over the bed and copied Danny's fist bump movement, which made the team laugh.

"Fine, I'll take things easy, ok?" Danny relented.

"That's good to hear." Andrea appeared at the door, and Danny broke out a big smile, which didn't go unnoticed by the rest of his team. They were all so happy that Danny had finally found someone to love him. "That will make my life much easier over the next two weeks. I've just arranged two weeks leave to make sure you behave."

"You don't have to take care of me, I'll manage." Danny didn't want her wasting holiday on him.

"Truth be told, my boss has been pushing me to take some holiday. I have plenty saved up, so I can make sure you don't overdo things, and besides... I want to." Andrea flushed a little red.

"How can I argue with that?" Danny held out his hand to Andrea who took it and perched on the edge of Danny's bed.

"Well I think that's my cue to head home. Renee will have forgotten what I look like." Lou stood and the others followed suit.

"I should go too. Abby should be finishing soon. I think I'll swing by HPD and pick her up. She sends her best by the way." Chin followed Lou out of the room.

"Come on boss, I'll shout you some food." Kono offered.

"I think I'll sta..." Steve started, but Kono grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Time to go boss. I fancy a steak, and I will not eat it alone." She winked at Danny as she dragged Steve away. "He's all yours." She whispered to Andrea, and Steve shouted a good night to them both as he was dragged from the room

As soon as they all left, Andrea kicked off her shoes and again snuggled up next to Danny like she had the night before.

"You know you don't have to stay, you spend most of your time here." Danny planted a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"I know, but there is nowhere else I'd rather be right now." Andrea replied. The pair remained silent, content with each other's company, fingers entwined until they drifted off to sleep.

 **THE END**

 **We haven't seen the last of Woolf. There will be another story to follow at soon point.**


End file.
